East Hampton Village Mayor Jerry Larsen is currently backing a herculean push to unseat nearly all 38 sitting members of the East Hampton Town Democratic Committee and replace them with committee members favorable to him, part of a purported effort to reshape the local party in his image.

He’s also launching a Democratic primary challenge against incumbent East Hampton Supervisor Kathee Burke-Gonzalez, who has already been tapped by the current committee to be the party’s candidate in November’s race.

The primary election is set for June 23, and this week, the editors are joined by reporter Jack Motz to talk about Larsen’s efforts and what it might mean for the party and the race.

At a public hearing hosted by the Southampton Village Board on February 12, residents and some board members voiced opposition to a proposal that would extend the terms of office for the mayor and trustees from two to four years.

The proposal would be subject to a mandatory referendum. It was recommended by the village’s Planning Commission, which argued that longer terms would save the village money due to less frequent elections while providing elected officials more time to build institutional knowledge and oversee projects from start to finish.

But those who spoke out against the proposal largely disagreed. They expressed support for keeping the current two-year terms in place and questioned the need for the change.

This week, the editors are joined by news reporter Dan Stark to talk about the pros, the cons and possible motives behind the proposal.

On January 26, as residents hunkered down in their warm homes to watch snow from a massive storm pile up outside, Sag Harbor’s Marit Molin and several volunteers from Hamptons Community Outreach headed out into the elements.

With temperatures well below freezing, the group trudged through the South Fork’s wooded areas in search of the homeless who ride out winter in rudimentary shelters. The goal of Molin and her team is to encourage these individuals to accept help and a few nights shelter at motels paid for by her nonprofit.

Similarly, at Maureen’s Haven, an advocacy group with community partners across the East End that provide temporary shelter for these individuals in the coldest months of the year, executive director Dan O’Shea has seen great need for services this year.

This week Arts & Living Editor Annette Hinkle and news reporter Cailin Riley are joined by Molin and O’Shea, who discuss the challenges of serving this population in light of both the current weather conditions and the political environment.

​The Hamptons real estate market saw its median home sales price breach $2 million for the first time in 2025, and for the first time in history, 70% of transactions were above $1 million. To make sense of the numbers, ​Jonathan Miller​,​ the president and CEO of real estate appraisal and consulting firm​ Miller Samuel Inc., ​joins the editors for a discussion of what influenced sales in 2025 and his outlook for the market in 2026.

More than 100 community members came together at The Church in Sag Harbor on another frigid winter night to discuss the future of Sag Harbor’s downtown, everything that’s at stake, and how to protect it at an Express Sessions event titled “The Evolution and Preservation of Downtown Sag Harbor.”

The panel for the conversation, which was moderated by Express News Group Consulting Editor Joseph Shaw, included Sag Harbor Village Mayor Tom Gardella; Sag Harbor Village Trustee Jeanne Kane; former New York State Assemblyman Fred Thiele, a lifelong Sag Harbor resident and current board member of the Sag Harbor Partnership; community advocate Shawn Sachs; Sag Harbor Planning Board member Grainne Coen, who is the co-owner of Kidd Squid Brewing Co. in Sag Harbor and also serves on the Sag Harbor Board of Education; and Sag Harbor Variety Store owner Lisa Field.

Co-Publisher Gavin Menu, Consulting Editor Joseph Shaw, multimedia content creator Lee Meyer and reporter Cailin Riley analyze the points raised at the event and share highlights.

As costs rise, taxes increase and budgets are stretched, small school districts across the region face the daunting task of providing robust programming to their students with fewer resources. Compounding the challenges on the East End are decreases in state aid, overall falling student population numbers and unaffordable housing costs that are driving families from the area.

This week, the editors discuss the pros and cons of school consolidation. With more than a dozen school districts on the South Fork, it’s likely only a question of time before consolidation becomes a matter of survival.

On Thursday, January 15, Westhampton Beach residents, business owners, elected officials and others gathered at Fauna in the village for the latest edition of the Express Sessions series “Local Matters,” providing those in attendance with a chance to discuss and debate the most pressing issues facing the community.

The afternoon conversation ranged from new regulations that will require beachfront communities like Westhampton Beach to start paying a portion of federal beach replenishment costs, to the continued vacancy of prominent storefronts, and challenges related to the sewer district expansion, parking and more. Several options and ideas were explored, with input not only from those living and working in the immediate village area, but also from stakeholders in surrounding villages like Quogue and West Hampton Dunes.

The panel included Westhampton Beach Village Mayor Ralph Urban and Deputy Mayor Kimberly Monsour; West Hampton Dunes Village Mayor Irwin Krasnow; Quogue Village Mayor Robert Treuhold; Jennifer Sperber, owner of Mixology and a member of the Westhampton Beach Chamber of Commerce; Larry Jones, a preservation consultant and trustee of the Westhampton Beach History Museum; and Aram Terchunian, a coastal geologist and president of First Coastal Consulting.

Last year, Hampton Coffee Company took over a roadside cafe in a quiet corner of Hampton Bays. Over decades, the building, a former farm stand, had been expanded and transformed into a small eatery with bathrooms, a kitchen and walk-in refrigerators.

The neighbors love having the cafe nearby. The problem is, all those expansions were done sans permits. So in an effort to bring everything up to date, Hampton Coffee Company’s owners Jason and Theresa Belkin filed a change of tenancy notice with Southampton Town Building Department to officially convert the certificate of occupancy from a farm stand to a take-out restaurant. Now the town is telling the Belkins they must go to the Planning Board for a proper assessment of what the building has become.

This week, the editors discuss the conundrum the town faces as it considers legalizing a beloved business in a residential zone while also pondering what sort of precedents it might set down the road in other similar situations.

Southampton Town is weighing using its Community Preservation Fund to purchase a Meadow Lane mansion — and the land it sits on — for nearly $26 million. The town would then raze the mansion and remove the accompanying pool to install a new parking lot where town residents could access a stretch of beach in Southampton Village. The property is located next to a Town Trustees 4x4 access road that is popular with beach drivers. Reporter Michael Wright joins the editors on this week's podcast to discuss the motivations behind the purchase.

In late December, Governor Kathy Hochul vetoed a bill that would formally recognize the Montaukett Nation. This, despite the fact that there was broad support for the legislation, which passed the State Assembly unanimously and the State Senate in a vote of 59-1.

The bill sought to reinstate recognition to the Montaukett Nation by reversing a 1910 court ruling that improperly stripped it away by ignoring an earlier U.S. Supreme Court decision under which the nation would have qualified for recognition. It was the seventh time in recent years that such a bill has died on the New York governor’s desk.

This week, the editors are joined by reporters Michael Wright and Jack Motz as well as Montaukett Executive Director and Government Affairs Officer Sandi Brewster-walker, who has worked extensively over the past decade to gain state recognition, and State Assemblyman Tommy John Schiavoni, the bill’s co-sponsor, to talk about why this has been such an uphill battle for the Montauketts.